Re: all-permissive license notice

[Bruno Haible]

Simon Josefsson wrote:
> Bruno Haible via Gnulib discussion list <bug-gnulib@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > The all-permissive copyright + license notice that we currently use is:
> >
> >   dnl Copyright (C) YEARS Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> >   dnl This file is free software; the Free Software Foundation
> >   dnl gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
> >   dnl with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.
> >
> > since 2005 [1].
> >
> > Meanwhile, in 2020, John Darrington suggested to me to use a different
> > all-permissive license notice [2], that has the additional sentence
> >
> >   This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.
> >
> > Should we use or not use this additional sentence?
> 
> https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#License-Notices-for-Other-Files

Oh, I missed that it already says
  "Older versions of this license did not have the second sentence with
   the express warranty disclaimer."
So, adding this sentence appears to be a good idea.

> Why aren't we using the following version? ...
> 
> "Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
> are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
> notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered as-is,
> without any warranty."

Personally, I prefer the wording that Paul committed:

  * It is grammatically simpler.

  * It does not raise questions about what "without royalty" means.
    If, say, Red Hat includes such a file in a product that they sell,
    are the "royalties" the money that Red Hat's customer pays to Red Hat,
    or the money that Red Hat pays to the FSF?
    Probably a lawyer will say "Obviously it's <one_or_the_other>." But
    if understanding the license notice requires consulting a lawyer,
    there are better wordings to use.

  * "in any medium" was probably worth mentioning in the 1980ies. But by
    now, all judges and courts should understand that distributing a
    painting on a canvas, on a CD-ROM, or on a computer file are equivalent.
    We don't need to remind the courts about this any more.

Bruno